It is known to mount a vehicle seat having a seat support, or seat bracket, on a bottom of thereof, to a floor pan or to a seat cross-member attached to a floor pan. Various seat mounting assemblies have been devised. For example, in Japanese patent 56,052, a seat support 12 attached to a rod 20 by a nut 15, the rod 20 being attached to vertically spaced vehicle members 22 and 15a by a resilient bushings, as seen in FIG. 7 of the patent. In British patent 395,098, to vertically spaced vehicle panels 6 are separated by a vertically extending member 1 surrounding a bolt 10 which is tightened to connect the vehicle panels. Similarly, in German patent 1,284,857, two vertically spaced vehicle panels 6, 7 are separated by a U-shaped member 1 having flanges 2, the U-shaped member being attached to the lower panel 6 by a snap fitting element 5. The Japanese patent 83,621 discloses transversely extending vehicle seat supports, or mounting brackets 2, for supporting a seat on a floor panel 1. A stud bolt 3 is fitted in a mounting hole of the mounting bracket 2 and the stud bolt 3 is fitted into a mounting hole in the floor panel 1 and the mounting hole in a reinforcement 4 under the floor panel.
With the onset of seat integrated restraints, the seat may transmit a higher load to the front floor pan. This may occur since the seat integrated restraint concept incorporates the B-pillar retractor and seat belt connections onto the back of the seat. Thus, in a seat integrated restraint seating system, the floor pan must withstand the full force of a restrained occupant, whereas in a conventional seating system, the B-pillar and body shell would absorb some the load. Conventional seat mounting systems, such as those described above, may not provide sufficient strength. The need exists, therefore, for a vehicle seat assembly which will adequately accommodate seat integrated restraints.